Just Me and the Dog: A sea voyage along the Norwegian coast: part 1

Finally I am posting about our vacation. The text is copied from entries I made in my diary during the trip.

First glimpse of M/S Vesterålen at dock in Kirkenes

Thursday, August 25.

Today, we are departing on a trip: a cruise along the Norwegian coastline, from Kirkenes to Bergen. We woke up to a grey and rainy day. Oldest daughter took us to the station, where we stood in the rain, along with all the commuters with their umbrellas waiting for the train. We are now on the plane, flying toward Kirkenes in the very north of Norway. Sun is shining above the cloud carpet as we enjoy a mostly organic breakfast, courtesy of SAS.

Kirkenes Airport, and the airplane that brought us here.

The second half of my vacation (I had 2 weeks in July as well) actually began 5 days ago. The first 2 days were spent orienteering, wading around in the bogs and across rain gorged streams. It's about time I did some exercising again, I've been very slack. It's just that I've been feeling low on energy for several weeks. It was no better this weekend. I can't say I ran much, but rather trudged through the course. The next 3 days were spent getting caught up on laundry, egg sales and picking berries from the garden. The gooseberries and black currants are done, the. Red currants at least half done. Also dug up all the onions and about a third of the potatoes. The harvest is unfortunatly somewhat limited because of the large crop of weeds this year.We also met with Mother-in-law, when she came to Hamar for an appointment with her oncologist. She is not looking good, has really gone downhill in the past 6 weeks, inspite of not having broken any more bones. She continues to require blood transfusions every few weeks, and has had some trouble breathing in the last few days. It is because of her state of health that we decided to take a cruise along the Norwegian coastline for our 10th aniversary trip, instead of taking a vacation abroad. It seemed sensible to stay closer to home.

Kirkenes is a mining town, dominated by the huge mining complex overlooking the town below. Or at least it used to be. The mine is closed now. Kirkenes claim to fame now, is it's proximity to Russia. The road signs are even in both russian and norwegian.

Seafood lunch: the first of many memorable lunch buffets

Once we embarked on our ship we had a delicious lunch. It was a buffet, with a variety of seafood among other things. After lunch we sat on deck, basking in the warm sunshine.

Husband basking in the sun. It is incredibly warm, sunny and calm for so far North.

Our first stop was Vardø, Norway's easternmost settlement. I hesitate to call it a town, it is more a small village: very cute, on a windswept island, with old houses (built in the 50's I'm guessing, and two churches. There was a small fort, a remnant from WWII, though it goes back to the 1500's. And out on the edge of the cliffs, There were a number of large spheres with some military purpose (intelligence?).

Entrance to the Fort at Vardø

In the fort at Vardø

The fort at Vardø

After dinner we were exhausted. We had, after all been up since 5am. We watched the landing at båtsfjord, where tomorrows seafood was loaded on board, and went to bed.

The coast of Finnmark, Day 1

Friday, August 26th

Slept wonderfully, and woke up early. Threw on some clothes and ran up on deck at 6:15 to see the docking at Honningsvåg, the northenmost settlement on the Norwegian mainland. We did not go on the breakfast excursion to Nordkapp. It is a misty day, with low cloud cover. The deck is wet from last nights rain. However, after breakfast the sun came out and it has remained fine until evening.I have been feeling a little under the weather all day: queasy, lightheaded, short of breath, leaden limbed. Tried napping for an hour after breakfast, which helped a little.

Honningsvåg

We had an hours stop in Hammerfest, where we got off to explore. There is a lovely modern church, built in '62. Both inside and out it seemed to reach upward. The whole wall behind the alter was a stained glass picture window. A little further was the catholic chuch of St Michael, with St michael and the dragon in mosaic on an outside, and stained glaws on the inside. Further there was the polar bear club, with a polar bear themed gift shop and an exhibit of polar wildlife.

We passed this house on our way up to the church.

Hammerfest Church inside and outside.

The catholic church with the mosaic of St Michael.

The park in Hammerfest.

We were to stop in Tromsø around midnight. I had really wanted to see this city, which is called the Paris of the North, and it's famous church. First we planned to stay up and take a walk, however dark clouds were rolling in so, so we ended up going to bed at our usual time. I got up again at 11:30, to stand at the forward bowand watch our aproach. It was raining, and dark, but the bridge and church were lighted up, so it was a beautiful sight.